Early Holocene “pre-pastoral” cultures in the Uan Afuda Cave, Wadi Kessan (Tadrart Acacus, Libyan Sahara).

Uan Afuda Cave represents a context of extraordinary importance for the comprehension of the cultural transformation processes during the crucial passage between Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. The noticeable stratigraphic sequence provides a new reading of the most ancient frequentation referable to the Middle Palaeolithic of Aterian phase, in the Acacus, TL-dated to more than 69 ky BP. A marked hiatus in anthropic occupation signs the passage to the first Holocene frequentation, which is attested at Uan Afuda since the beginning of the tenth millennium BP. For the first time substantial differences have been identified within the pre-Pastoral phase, based on palaeoclimatic context, settlement pattern, material culture, subsistence economy, and 14C datings. This distinction is substantiated by the use of the terms, like “Epipalaeolithic” or “Early Acacus” for the oldest phase, and “Mesolithic” or “Late Acacus” for the late phases.